


Plant a Flag in the Past

by coolbreezemage



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29864781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbreezemage/pseuds/coolbreezemage
Summary: Discovery takes up a mission on behalf of an irate stranger: protect a series of trading outposts from raiders. As always, the situation ends up far more complicated than that. And so begins an adventure of angry politicians, exciting space battles, and debates over holo-anime characters.
Relationships: Cleveland "Book" Booker/Michael Burnham, Keyla Detmer/Joann Owosekun, Saru & Sylvia Tilly
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in some sort of vague post-s3 AU where Saru's still Captain, Tilly's his First, and Michael works part-time with Book.

“Triple espresso and one breakfast burrito with crispy bacon and-“ Tilly’s sentence was swallowed up by a heavy yawn. Whose idea had it been to start Alpha Shift so freaking early?

“ _Please complete request,_ ” the replicator said, with that passive-aggressive tone that only a computer could manage.

Tilly grumbled. “With extra cheese,” she finished, glaring at it. 

The replicator obediently hummed her breakfast into existence. She took the tray and went to join the others.

The mess hall was busy this morning. Michael and Book were making googly eyes at each other over bowls of plomeek soup, Hugh was trying and failing to keep Paul and Adira from using their holopadds at the table, and Saru was pouring salt into his tea. A normal morning, as much as “morning” could apply on a starship. Or “normal” for that matter.

She found a seat next to Bryce at the long table, where Detmer was busy regaling the bridge crew with an account of some daring maneuver she’d pulled off in flight school. 

“I don’t think I believe that’s possible,” Linus complained, blinking doubtfully at her.

Someone elbowed him. “That’s why you’re not the pilot!”

“Did everyone see the new episode of Star Cascade Detective?” Tilly asked. It was the group’s current favorite show. 32nd century entertainment was a little weird sometimes, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t still connect. 

“Yeah!” Rhys exclaimed. “It was really good. Especially that gunship fight. I want to know what happens to the Watcher next.”

Tilly took a big bite of her burrito and proposed a question with her mouth still full. “Who would you want to be if you were one of them?” 

Bryce thought. “Hmm, maybe the Detective. Or the Watcher. Or the Ranger…” Everyone was looking at him. “What? I like them all.”

Owosekun shook her head. “No, no, you’re definitely the Watcher. The Ranger would have to be Saru.”

Rhys stared. “Saru, fighting? Are you serious?”

Owo laughed. “Have you _seen_ him in the gym? Those hooves are lethal. He’d make a great Ranger.”

“That’d make Michael the High Queen, you know,” Detmer put in, tapping her fork on her plate thoughtfully. “Since she’s the Ranger’s old friend.”

“No, that’s her boyfriend’s cat.” 

“You better not be insulting her!” Book yelled over, making everyone laugh again. 

“Who would I be?” Tilly asked. She already had a pretty good idea, but she always liked to hear it from others.

“Oh, no question there,” Owo began, “you’d be-“

And that was when the Yellow Alert went off. 

* * *

“Report,” Saru called as the team popped in one by one onto the bridge.

“Unidentified ship off the port bow,” the ensign at the comms announced. 

“They’re scanning us. And they’ve got some pretty powerful weapons for a ship that size,” Ops chimed in. 

“Can you hail them?”

“I’m trying, they’re not responding. I think their hull structure is blocking our signal. Modifying now…”

Tilly frowned. “If they’re not equipped to pick up standard Federation frequencies, then they must be from somewhere really far away…”

“Wherever they’re from, we can take them,” Detmer said.

“Hopefully that will not be necessary,” Saru said. “Have you made contact yet?”

“Give me a moment… There.”

A fuzzy image came up on the viewscreen: a small single-pilot cabin inhabited by a very angry-looking captain, their pointy reddish face surrounded by sharp fins spread open in an irritated manner.

Well, Tilly shouldn’t judge. Maybe that was their way of smiling. But she doubted it.

“Alien ship, this is Captain Saru of the-“

“I don’t care who you are or where you’re from,” the alien captain spat, “just stop raiding our colonies!”

Saru tilted his head. “We have not touched your colonies. In fact, we were not aware of any settlements in this sector. But if you would like to discuss this, perhaps we can offer some help. We-”

“Liar!” the alien yelled, fins flaring even wider. “Another excuse to steal our hard-earned resources? No, I don’t think I’m going to fall for that!”

The bridge crew glanced at each other, trading shrugs and exasperated looks.

Saru tried again. “If you would care to introduce yourself, we will-“

The alien drew themself up. “I am Hehtaran eyn pin Hamasalikor, seventh of the family Markinesen-arbar.”

Ever the diplomat, Saru repeated the name back to them perfectly, showing no irritation at having been interrupted yet again. “Hehtaran eyn pin Hamasalikor. I assure you, we wish you no harm. We are explorers. Can you tell us more about these raiders you’ve been dealing with?”

Hehtaran’s fins flattened and then went up again. “Not over these channels,” they huffed. “You never know who’s listening in.”

Everyone knew the channels were secure, but Saru evidently decided not to argue. “Then I invite you to join us on _Discovery_ to discuss your troubles so we can work out an agreement.”

To everybody’s surprise, Hehtaran agreed.

“Shuttlebay, prepare for our guest,” Saru ordered. He rose from his chair. “Nielsson, you have the conn. Owosekun, Tilly, with me.”

* * *

Their guest turned out to be a fairly small person, barely up to Tilly’s shoulder. Their long red arms had two elbows each, their hands ended in three long fingers, and four thin legs emerged from a sort of stiff grey kilt covered in buckles and gadgets. They skittered down the corridor from the shuttlebay to the conference hall, glaring disapprovingly at Discovery’s panels and screens as they went. 

“Waste of space,” they muttered. “Don’t know how you ever get anything done if you’re busy running back and forth all the time.” 

Tilly bristled at the insult to their ship. She had something she wanted to say about that, but a pointed glance from Saru silenced her. But it didn’t stop her and Owo trading dirty looks as they followed behind their unpleasant guest. 

When they entered the conference room, Hehtaran unclipped one of the many devices from their waist and tossed it onto the table. A starmap flickered into view above it, dotted here and there with little pulsing icons.

“Our systems have been ravaged by these devious fiends,” they declared. “They come out of nowhere and strip entire settlements down to their bones.”

“Cloaked ships?” Tilly suggested.

“It’s very possible,” Owo agreed. “We’ll need more sensor readings for a clearer picture.”

Saru considered the map, nodding thoughtfully. “If we can find a pattern in their attacks, it might help us preempt the next one.”

Owo turned to Hehtaran. “Can you show us anything you’ve got on the raiders’ warp signatures?”

No response. Not even a look.

“The sensor data would be most helpful,” Saru prompted.

Hehtaran huffed. “And let that data fall into the hands of our enemies?”

Saru’s patience was starting to wear thin. “If you are unwilling to accept our aid,” he said, “you are welcome to continue on your way without it.”

A long moment passed. Hehtaran glared up at Saru, burning with irrational fury, but Saru remained steady as a calm sea. 

Finally, Hehtaran grumbled an answer. “You will present yourself to the Trade Council. They can decide if you’re trustworthy enough to be worth our time. I will return to my ship and send you the coordinates from there. Be sure to be prompt.” They extended one thin arm to snatch up the holo device, spun around, and strode out the door. 

Tilly sighed. She seriously regretted that she hadn’t gotten to finish her coffee. Or her breakfast. 

“What an _ass_ ,” Owo said.

Tilly wholeheartedly agreed, but that didn’t stop her from glancing warily at Saru to see if he’d scold Owo for the comment. 

“Indeed,” was all he said. Tilly suppressed a giggle. 

“What does this guy have against us anyway?” Owo whispered to Tilly. “If they accuse Saru of stealing one more time…”

Tilly shook her head, curls flying. “I don’t know. Maybe the raiders look a bit like Kelpiens? That’s kinda racist though.”

Saru waved a hand dismissively. “Well, I have no reason to know that. I find it more interesting that our _guest-_ ” that word layered with sarcasm- “hasn’t acknowledged _your_ presence at all.”

He was right. Tilly frowned. “Maybe they think we’re your servants or something?”

“That could be it,” Owo said. “We don’t know how their social structure works. And we’re both women so maybe it’s a patriarchy thing.”

“But we don’t even know if they’re a man…” 

“Michael would be able to figure it out. Xenoanthropologist and all.”

Tilly grinned. “Michael’s good at that. And we can ask her boyfriend too. He’s done a lot of trading with all sorts of people.”

“Be cautious in your speculation,” Saru advised. “We don’t want to offend this Trade Council.”

Tilly thought privately that the Council should be more concerned with not offending _Discovery_ , but she decided not to say so.

A moment later, Detmer called down from the bridge to confirm that they’d gotten the coordinates, and then they were on their way.

* * *

“Never heard of ‘em,” Book said when presented with an image of Hehtaran. “Never seen anyone who looks like that at the Exchange either. But maybe someone else has. I can ask some friends.”

“They haven’t told us much about the raiders,” Owo said. “So it’s possible we’ll get briefed if the Council approves of us. Or they don’t know who’s behind the attacks, or it’s a range of people. We know they have advanced technology.” 

They’d gathered in the ready room to plan for their meeting with the Council. Considering their abbreviated breakfast, Saru replicated them coffee and tea and a plate of fruit and cookies. Tilly gratefully downed half her mug in one gulp and nibbled on the treats while Michael did her magic. 

“They sound fairly isolationist,” Michael said, reaching out to scroll through the minimal data they’d gotten from scanning the ship. “A race who wouldn’t appreciate interference in their business.”

“At this point,” Saru said, “I doubt they have a choice. The damage to their outposts is extensive. And since we are in a position to provide aid…”

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t help them. Just that we should be careful about it.” And how ironic that was, Michael arguing caution and Saru straightforwardness. They’d both changed so much.

Saru nodded. “Of course. I’m trusting you to guide us on that front.”

“Aye, Captain.” Michael smiled at him. She was smiling more now, so much more than when Tilly first met her, and she loved it every time. “I’ve missed this,” she said, and Tilly knew exactly what she meant. Flying from place to place, helping people along the way, it was almost like being in one of those heroic stories she loved to watch. 

“We could do no less,” Saru said, taking a cup of tea. “It is why we are here.”

Owo laughed. “You’re all so sappy. I love it.” 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to call the captain sappy,” Tilly said.

“Sure I am.” 

“We have a lot of work to do before we arrive,” Saru gently reminded them. 

Between them, Book and Michael soon had a decent report sketched out. Book, as promised, sent out some messages to his courier friends, which earned them a few more scraps of information on Hehtaran’s people. 

In recent decades, the Federation had been too busy trying to keep its own fragmented worlds together to pay much mind to its neighbors, especially if they were minding their own business and posed no threat to allied worlds. And in that time, the landscape outside those borders had shifted and changed, bringing new forces into power all with their own settlements and fleets and laws.

Hehtaran’s people were known as Tirmena, and their society was intensely hierarchical, with each family head or guild leader or captain or governor holding full power over their own people except where overruled by a leader above them. Which made their guest something of an exception, as a lone scout hired to monitor some governor’s empire of outposts. 

And, to complicate things further, this “Trade Council” was less a governing body and more an uneasy alliance of several colonial governors’ representatives attempting to deal with troubles when their lord didn’t have the time or motivation to intervene.

“That explains why they’d only listen to the captain,” Book said. He turned to Saru. “Looks like this is all going to be on you, sir. They’re not gonna listen to anyone else.” 

“Surely they also understand the principle of delegation,” Saru replied. “If, as an all-powerful leader, I order any of my subordinates to assist me, I can’t see how that would be questioned.”

Book shrugged. “You can try, but they should stay quiet. Apparently they appreciate brutal honesty from anyone of equal rank, but there’s no way they’ll let a servant correct their superiors.” 

“Then I will be sure not to bring Commander Burnham,” he said. 

Michael glared back in mock-offense until Book laughed. “You’d better not take her away,” he said, throwing an arm over her shoulder. “We’ve got a movie night tonight.” 

“Of course. I wouldn’t dare to take her from you,” Saru said. “Ensign Tilly and Lieutenant Owesekun will accompany me to meet the council, whether the council appreciates it or not.” Saru tilted his head to regard the two of them. “I am not certain it is how the Ranger would handle the situation, but it is how I choose to.”

“Oh no,” Owo laughed, putting a helpless hand to her mouth. “You heard that?”

“Of course. Did you forget that my hearing is sharper than a human’s? Though that is rather irrelevant when you’re speaking so loudly already.”

Michael buried her face in Book’s shoulder to hide her laughter.

Tilly blushed and ducked her head. She’d have to remember that the next time they wanted to gossip. “Sorry, sir. We just thought it was fun to think about us and the characters… Hang on, have you seen the show?”

“No, but I have gathered enough details from your conversations to deduce that you mean the comparison as a compliment.” That was a relief, at least. “Though I _am_ surprised that you would associate me with a warrior.”

“No no no, the Ranger’s a nice guy!” Tilly hurriedly clarified. “He’s taken an oath to only fight people who have hurt others, and he never actually kills them, he just knocks them out and teleports them to the authorities with a magic coin.” Kelpien super-strength aside, Tilly thought, Saru was one of the calmest and most level-headed members of their crew. Up until you threatened someone he cared about. Which really was very like the Ranger...

“I see. That’s very convenient.” 

“Yeah,” Owo said. “I wish we could be like that.” 

“Well, we do have phasers set to stun and site-to-site transporters, we could probably work something out.” Tilly could already imagine it. If the Captain gave the order...

“Which will of course be left as a last resort,” Saru put in, though not without amusement. “I hope we will be able to resolve this conflict without that added complexity.” 

“It’s still fun to think about.”

Saru nodded. “But not at the moment. We have a mission to complete.”


	2. Chapter 2

The chambers of the Tirmenan Trade Council looked exactly like Tilly expected them to look. A long, high-ceilinged room, wide at the entrance but narrowing down at the end. Banners hung from all the walls, displaying the emblems of each of the governors represented. And all of this was there to frame a raised dias from which the Council members could regard their petitioners.

There were five of them, in various shades of red and orange, none taller than Tilly, each with their own little desk. They watched their visitors enter, fins rippling in emotions Tilly couldn’t read.

Saru, Tilly, and Owosekun approached the councilors, the humans careful to stay always a few steps behind their commander. Tilly hoped these people wouldn’t have such an irrational hatred towards Saru and the _Discovery's_ crew as Hehtaran had. And she wondered if it confused the Tirmerans to see a team of people from different species. If they had a problem with it, well, they could deal with the raiders on their own. 

“You must understand the situation these raids have put us in, Captain,” one of the councilors said, a sandy orange one a little taller than the rest, with a broad ruff and several sparkling badges on the straps across their wide chest. 

“It’s a mess, that’s what it is,” the one to their left said. “I wouldn’t be meeting with these fools if it wasn’t.” Their pinkish ruff hadn’t gone down once since Saru’s team arrived. 

The Tirmenan on the far right made a circular gesture with one hand. From the way the alien who’d just spoken glared, it was an insult. “Don’t waste our time with that. If this Captain can put our problems to rest, that will benefit us all.” 

“And how exactly do they plan to do that?” asked the one on the far left. “They know nothing of our settlements or our security. Or our enemies.”

Enemies? So there were known forces out there that might be behind this? Tilly made a mental note of that. Saru clicked quietly beside her. So he’d also taken the same point.

“If you will allow us to place sensor beacons in the afflicted systems,” he said, “we may be able to track the intruders.”

“And what will you be expecting in exchange for this… assistance?” demanded the leftmost member. Tilly still wasn’t sure about the aliens’ genders and wasn’t about to ask, but this coral-red alien reminded her very strongly of one of her teachers at the Academy, a grumpy old woman who loved nothing more than to complain how new technology was making her young students lazy and stupid. Oh, if she could only see Tilly now.

“We offer our assistance freely, Councillors,” Saru said, and there it was again, that Starfleet ethos Owo lovingly called sappy. He tilted his head. “But if you are amenable, we would be most interested in establishing diplomatic relations between your worlds and the Federation.”

The pinkish councilor hissed in dismay. “This won’t do. We will not cede our lands to anyone.”

“We want nothing of the like,” Saru reassured them. “Only to speak with your people and have them speak to us, and perhaps establish mutually beneficial communication and exchange.” 

“That could be very useful,” the rightmost said. The one next to them, who hadn’t spoken yet, studied each of their fellows in turn, and then whispered something to the middle councillor.

“Very well. We will allow you to place your beacons in our space,” the first councillor said, sounding very unhappy about it. “But we will be monitoring you, and we will not accept any deviation from our agreement.”

“Understood,” Saru said, adding a hint of an elegant bow. It didn’t help satisfy their judges, who continued to mutter and gripe quietly as their guests turned to leave. 

“I think, uh...” Tilly started, when the chamber doors closed behind them and all that was left was a long stretch of decorated hallway between them and the transport coordinates. 

“I’m listening, Number One.”

She glanced up at him. “I think you should be less nice to them?” she said, and then with more certainty, “Because they don’t like politeness. Book said they expect people of equal status to be blunt and honest.”

“You gotta look tough!” Owo added, swinging a fist.

“More like the Ranger, then?” Saru said. He wasn’t going to let them get away with that, was he? 

Tilly giggled. “Yeah! Want me to start work on the bad guy transporter?”

“Not just yet, Ensign, but I will consider it,” he said, neatly brushing aside the idea as he did with most things he was uncomfortable with or puzzled by. 

But after the way Hehtaran and the Trade Council had talked to them, Tilly couldn’t say she wouldn’t love to hear Saru dress them down in that sharp-edged way he reserved for those who truly deserved it. And if that would earn them respect from the aliens? Even better. 

When they beamed back to _Discovery_ , the maps were waiting for them.

Saru turned to Owosekun. “You and Lieutenant Detmer will take a shuttle and place monitoring beacons near the second planet and the inner asteroid belt.” 

“Aye, Captain,” Owo said, and Tilly caught the smile she was unable to hide at the prospect of going on a mission with her girlfriend. 

“Ensign, you will work with Commander Burnham and Mr. Booker to prepare a report on the Tirmena, their government, and their settlements for the Admiral.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Sappy or not, she’d never get tired of this.

* * *

“You _didn’t_ ,” Keyla hissed from the pilot’s seat, her eye glinting in a combination of mischief and horror.

Joann threw her head back against the chair and laughed. “I did!”

Keyla looked at her like she’d suggested turning the warp core into a jungle gym. “Was he offended? I _told_ you we shouldn’t be talking so loud! Booker could hear us, you don’t need Kelpien ears to-”

More laughter. “Relax, Keyla, he wasn’t offended, just confused. Tilly explained everything. I think he thinks he’s too serious for fun stuff like this.”

Keyla shook her head. “He’s the Captain, he’s very busy.”

“Didn’t you say Captain Georgiou always came to movie nights?”

“That was _before_ we got into a war and got flung 900 years into the future. Anyway, I bet he was confused. Star Cascade Detective doesn’t seem like his sort of show.” She added in an undertone, “I _told you_ he was more like the Professor than the Ranger anyway.”

Joann laughed. “Nah, I’m still going with the Ranger. The Professor’s only been in one episode so far and I think he’s secretly evil.” Bryce agreed with her on that, but the others weren’t as sure.

“No, really?”

“Nobody who’s not evil has a secret lab like that. But whichever one he is, he probably thinks it’s just some weird human thing.” She debated putting her feet up on the console and decided against it.

“It _is_ some weird human thing.” Keyla was right. Nearly a millennium in the future and humans were still the weirdos of the galaxy.

“Eh, Linus likes it enough,” Joann said. Their Saurian friend always got very into whatever he was watching, cheering loudly at every heroic scene until someone had to shush him.

“Linus likes everything. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him complain about any food, game, show, I don’t know. But it was a good episode last time. It’s too bad we were too busy to do a group showing.”

“Yeah,” Joann agreed. “I want to watch the next one with you. It’s not the same if I can’t hold you during the exciting bits.”

That earned her a glowing blush across Keyla’s pale face. It was a moment before she brushed her hair out of her eyes and turned back to her console.

“Hold on, I’m going to take us to warp.”

There wasn’t any need to hold on at all, not with Keyla in the pilot’s seat. And the shuttle upgrades they’d gotten with Discovery’s refit made them as smooth as Joann’s uncle’s traditionally-brewed bourbon. 

She had rarely missed home after she’d joined Starfleet. It was hard to miss people who’d all but disowned you, after all. But somehow being separated forever from them made her remember the little details fondly. The open fields overflowing with vegetables, the rocky shoals and the oysters below, building barns with rope and horses and sweat and all sitting down to a real cooked feast after.

There was the barest change in the vibration of the deck plating, and they were off.

Joann shook her head and pulled up a holomap of their surroundings, throwing a few sensor overlays on top. It was so much more information than she’d ever have gotten with her home era’s tech.

Keyla still preferred the manual controls. Joann couldn’t imagine going back to 23rd century stuff after getting used to all this holographic tech and programmable matter, but then, she wasn’t the pilot. Whatever meant Keyla could complete the mission and get them home safe was good by her. 

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a little fun while they were at it. 

“I hear you’ve been practicing the Paris Maneuver,” Joann teased. 

Keyla glanced at her. “And?” she said, unable to hide the smile pulling at her lips.

“And I was just wondering if you wanted to do a little more practice.”

“We’re on a mission!” Keyla exclaimed, utterly failing to sound scandalized.

“Yes, it’s perfect, we’ve got time alone! Come on, show me!” 

The devious spark in Keyla’s expression was all Joann needed to know that she’d won.

“Fine, but if we’re late, you’re the one who explains it to the Captain.”

“We won’t be late, so that’s a deal.” 

“Great. Hang on.” This time, it would be a little bumpier than normal - Keyla had lowered the settings on the inertial dampeners for the sake of more tactical feedback - but nothing Joann wasn’t used to.

The Paris Maneuver saw them hiding themselves in a cloud of sensor-baffling plasma exhaust, then flipping nose over tail and coming about to strafe an unsuspecting enemy. It was a move that was more than half theater, which made it a perfect opportunity for telling your girlfriend how impressive she was.

Keyla laughed. “You owe me dinner next time we’re at a starbase.”

“Sure thing.”

“Now let’s get back to work. We’re coming up on the location for the first beacon,” Keyla said. “Are you ready?”

Joann went to the back of the shuttle and took one of the beacons from the crate. It was a shockingly small cylinder about the size of a hiking canteen, with a row of green lights along the side indicating it was ready to be launched. When they deployed it, it would blossom into a wide sphere of nanocloth that would record data from all directions and send it back to _Discovery_.

“Ready!” She pushed the beacon down the little chute and pressed the button to launch it. The two of them watched out the windows as the device flashed once, twice, and then exploded out into its full size in an elegant flourish of unfolding cloth and programmable struts. Joann could still remember the grin on the face of the Bajoran engineer who’d shown them off at HQ. 

“Reading data now,” Keyla reported. “Redirecting to _Discovery…_ ” A few taps on the console. “Done. Let’s go set the next one up.” 

They continued on to the next location, and the next. At each one, Joann launched a beacon and Keyla hooked its feed into the data stream going back to _Discovery_. 

Everything was going to plan. Which of course meant it was too good to last. 

Joann’s console beeped a warning. “There’s a ship in range,” she reported. “A small one. The signature’s not in our database.” 

Keyla glanced over. “Is it Tirmenan?”

“If it is, it’s a really old one. Look how beat-up those engines are.” The initial readings coming up on the screen were littered with orange and red warnings of vulnerable and failing systems.

“Can you scan them?”

“Two lifesigns on board. They’re not Tirmenan. Should be in visual range soon. Look, there.” She pointed.

Keyla grimaced at the sight of the ship coming towards them. For all its small size, it somehow lumbered through space like a cargo freighter from one of those old movies about the pre-NX era. “What a rustbucket. Are those really the raiders?”

“Their weapons look like they’ve been broken for weeks. No way are they able to steal anything.”

“Do they need our help? Maybe we should hail them.”

Joann was about to do so, and then a second ship jumped out of warp right in front of them, a much better equipped one, sharp and shiny like the head of a drill. An alarm blared through the shuttle’s cabin. 

“ _That’s_ Tirmenan,” Joann said. “Looks a lot like that asshole’s scout ship, and they’ve got weapons.”

“Ugh. Do they know we’re here to help?”

“No! They’re firing!” Joann could only shout a brief warning before the Tirmenan shuttle attacked. Keyla yanked on the controls, rolling the shuttle out of the way just in time.

“Shit, that got our weapons!” she cried. “Get the shields up!”

“Working on it! What do they want?”

“Us, dead, I think!” 

The ship continued firing. Keyla deftly avoided each shot, guided by Joann calling out the readings beside her. She’d never been so glad for the enhanced sensors. That half-second of extra time in between warning and shot was enough to save them from an attack that would’ve surely destroyed them before. 

Keyla cursed again. “They’re not letting up. Try Pattern Theta-2!” 

“The Dead Duck?” 

“Yes! Do it!” 

They’d practiced this. Not recently, but Starfleet training was designed to sear each tactic into an officer’s mind to be ready whenever it was needed. Joann’s fingers flew across the controls. It took the computer less than three seconds to spin up a loop of fake sensor data, and less than one to prepare it for broadcast.

“Ready.”

Joann timed it to line up exactly with the Tirmenan craft’s next shot. The shuttle rattled hard, throwing her against the back of her seat, but they survived with minimal damage. 

Except as far as their enemies knew, they were dead in the water. Helpless, losing life support, on the verge of a warp core breach. And if they fired again, they’d go up and take the Tirmenan ship with them.

The Tirmenan ship’s weapons went quiet. 

Joann gasped a breath of relief, and then another, and then started laughing. “We did it.” 

Keyla grinned a dazzling grin at her. “That was fantastic.”

“Remember when Professor Lawery made us debate the ethics of playing possum?”

Keyla raised her intact eyebrow, still smiling. “And you said it was unsporting and a war crime or something like that?”

“Yeah, ask me what I think about it now.”

“And?”

“I think it’s awesome.”

But they didn’t have much time to celebrate. The Tirmenan ship turned about and fired a direct shot right at the unidentified shuttle. 

There was another shot, a totally unnecessary one, because there was no way the weaker ship was going to last more than a few minutes after that first barrage, and then the Tirmenan ship went to warp, leaving its prey behind.

“They’re not going to make it,” Keyla said, serious again. “Beam them over.” 

“Already on it.” Joann dropped their shields and locked onto the shuttle’s occupants.

A moment later, two ragged figures shimmered into existence in the back of the shuttle’s cabin, just as their ship broke into sad, crumbling pieces. 

Joann had a phaser pointed at them as soon as they could move, for self-defense’s sake, but it was immediately obvious that there was no reason for it.

The aliens were humanoid bipeds; bulky grey-skinned beings dressed in dark clothes with shell-like crests on their heads, four-fingered hands, and large bulbous joints positioned at angles a human couldn’t quite replicate. Both were injured, dark blue blood dripping from cuts on their limbs and heads. And they were unarmed, and made no motion to move, but simply stood there, staring at the two humans.

Joann lowered her phaser. “Hey,” she said cautiously, “We’re here to help you.” 

Telegraphing every step, so the aliens knew what she was doing, she moved across the shuttle to take the emergency medkit from the storage locker. 

The click of the latch seemed to shock one of the aliens into motion. 

“Our ship,” they said. “We had important records stored there.”

The larger one next to them pulled on their arm and hissed angrily. “Behave, son.”

“Mother, we need the data,” the first protested, as Joann ran a medical tricorder over his wounds, trying to make sense of the confused display as it tried to adapt to his species. “If we don’t have it-”

Joann looked out the window at the slowly-drifting debris and back to their guests. “Sorry, uh, there’s nothing left of your ship. But we can take you to ours.” 

The son opened his mouth to complain.

“Be quiet,” the mother hissed. “We will talk with these aliens’ masters. They saved us once. They might be able to save us again.”

After a little bit of quiet, furtive arguing, the pair agreed. Not that they had much choice, Joann reflected. 

“Course laid in,” Keyla announced. “Tell _Discovery_ we’ll be back early.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/feedback will make my day!  
> Star Trek fic Discord: https://discord.gg/3aGtrDynqK


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